Jako Productions Launches New Artist

Brandon Harding, whose strong sensuous voice belies his fourteen years of age, doesn’t remember a time when singing wasn’t part of his life. Born and raised in Guyana, he won his country’s Junior Calypso Competition seven of the eight years that he competed. Michael Jackson was his favorite artiste, but it is the passion of Maxi Priest that he hopes to emulate in his singing. Brandon’s singing talent knows no bounds, he can sing just about anything, be it calypso, soca, reggae, R&B, soul, and so on, a tribute may be to his karaoke singing pastime. However, he considers R&B his favorite music, and it is to the level of R&B artist like Neo, Chris Brown, and Alicia Keys that he aspires.  

It was  at karaoke that Dr. Anderson Reynolds, managing director of Jako Productions, first heard Brandon sing and the music executive was so impressed that he felt compelled to take the artist under the wings of his production house.  Dr. Reynolds said that he was  even more encouraged to work with Brandon when he later found out that he was a perennial winner of  the Guyana Junior Calypso competition and that one of the reasons his family had moved from Guyana to St. Lucia was to give his music career a better  chance of succeeding.  

Brandon’s debut single, Black Cinderella, is a vintage reggae love song reminiscence of the music of Bob Marley and the Wailers. The song is a play on the story book Cinderella tale. Only this time Cinderella is a black beauty, and although she isn’t transformed to rags and servitude at midnight, she is playing hard to get.  

Black Cinderella was written by Sylvester “Itoobaa” Peter, arranged  by Sylvester “Itoobaa” Peter and Emmanuel “Bugs” Obrien, recorded and engineered by Marlon Florent at Mixed Lab Studios in Laborie, mixed by Marlon Florent and Francis “Leebo” Delima (Heights Music, Castries), and mastered by Francis “Leebo” Delima.  To find out more about Brandon Harding and Jako Productions, please visit Jako Productions at www.jakoproductions.com.

Brandon’s debut single, Black Cinderella, is a vintage reggae love song reminiscence of the music of Bob Marley and the Wailers. The song is a play on the story book Cinderella tale. Only this time Cinderella is a black beauty, and although she isn’t transformed to rags and servitude at midnight, she is playing hard to get.  

Black Cinderella was written by Sylvester “Itoobaa” Peter, arranged  by Sylvester “Itoobaa” Peter and Emmanuel “Bugs” Obrien, recorded and engineered by Marlon Florent at Mixed Lab Studios in Laborie, mixed by Marlon Florent and Francis “Leebo” Delima (Heights Music, Castries), and mastered by Francis “Leebo” Delima.  To find out more about Brandon Harding and Jako Productions, please visit Jako Productions at www.jakoproductions.com.

A Star In The Making

Late last year Jako Productions launched  Brandon Harding and his debut single, Black Cinderella, which was an instant hit, getting plenty of airplay on the island’s radio stations. In December he held the audience at  the Rodney Bay Marina ARC Concert in awe and by all accounts he stole the show at Assou Square in Vieux Fort. Overnight Brandon has become a celebrity in Vieux Fort where he resides. Children follow him around and at the Vieux Fort Technical Secondary School  his classmates are paying him so much attention that teachers are having difficulty maintaining order in the classroom.  In fact, Brandon’s Black Cinderella has already seeped into Vieux Fort’s youth culture. Teenage boys can be overheard referring to their girlfriends as Black Cinderellas, and likewise the girls are referring to themselves as such.

Jako Productions has announced the release of the music video for Black Cinderella, which was three months in the making. Judging from the reaction of a group of teenagers to a preview of the video, it seems Black Cinderella the video may become an even bigger hit than the song. Pleasantly surprised, the teenagers laughed and screamed and begged for a replay, and the following day came with a crowd of their friends to watch the video yet again.

As a prelude to St. Lucia’s 30th independence celebrations, Jako Productions is inviting the public to a video release party at 8:00 PM, Friday, February 20 at the Vieux Fort Town Hall. The event will include performances by Brandon, 4th World, and a dance group.

The teenagers’ gleeful reaction to the video is understandable, because set against the spellbinding seascape of Vieux Fort,  the video unfolds more like a movie than a music video. We see a frustrated Brandon Harding going to great lengths to win his Black Cinderella, including a serenade. But in his dreams and fantasies it is all bliss. We see him romancing his Cinderella in a Garden of Eden, rolling and frolicking with her at the ocean’s edge, dancing and swirling around with her in swimming pools, wining and dinning her at a fancy restaurant. And to cap it all, we watch as they  perform the cutting and sharing of the wedding cake, the wedding kiss and the first dance.

Directed by Anderson Reynolds, Brian Francis and Sylvester

Peter, and edited by Aschadan Duplessis and Remy Avril, Black Cinderella was played by Daisa Ferdinand  whose grace and beauty   could be the envy of any model in any part of the world. But to generalize the concept of Black Cinderella, the video employed a group of gorgeous ladies in swimwear who are sure to make the men go whoa!

But perhaps what sets this video apart from other music videos is the dance performance of a group of children. Choreographed by Sylvester Peter and wearing outfits designed by  River Francis and patterned after St. Lucia’s national dress, the children’s graceful and angelic performance added magic, mystery and a touch of St. Lucian culture to the video. It was as if Brandon summoned dancing cherubs dressed in national wear  to help win his Black Cinderella. 

Despite the success of Black Cinderella, Brandon’s manager, Dr. Anderson Reynolds, said there is no rest for the artist who is now at different studios recording three other songs. The goal said Dr. Reynolds is for the artist to record an album of ten to twelve songs before the year is over with which to book him on shows across the Caribbean and to gain the attention of record labels and music producers in Europe and North America.

Jako Productions would like to thank Peter Joseph, the Reef Restaurant and Bar, Coconut Bay Resort and Spa, Cherry's Unisex Beauty Salon, Kimatrai Hotel, Vieux Fort Technical Secondary School, the Vieux Fort Fishery Complex and  Top Stitch for allowing  the use of their facilities and resources for the shooting of the video.

For more information on Jako Productions and Brandon Harding readers are encouraged to visit Jako Productions at http://www.jakoproductions.com/ .

Reprinted from the February 28, 2009 issue of the YO!

Brandon Releases "A Serious Thing"

Jako Productions, the cultural and entertainment company operating from Vieux Fort, has just  released another song, A  Serious Thing, by Brandon Harding, the fourteen year old who just a few months ago St. Lucia knew nothing about, but whom since   the release of his  reggae hit single, Black Cinderella, has become an overnight sensation. The accompanying video for Black Cinderella, released just two weeks ago, has proven to be an even bigger hit than the song, especially among teenagers. Upon seeing the video most people marvel at the magic and beauty of it all, some even shedding tears. Unfolding more like a movie than a music video,  appreciative viewers often comment on the great deal of time, effort and expertise that must have gone into the making of the video. 

Well, here comes Brandon  again, this time  with  A Serious Thing, a calypso in which he places  his youthful and incredible singing talent to delivering a message about HIV/AIDS.   Employing what may be the sweetest voice in calypso,  the artist addresses all what the HIV/AIDS Secretariat  would like to tell people about HIV. But A Serious Thing is by no means a laundry list. Written by the trio of Brandon, Dr. Anderson Reynolds, and Modeste Downes, and arranged by Sylvester Peter and  Ron Louis, the song has all the ingredients of what makes a great calypso. Consider for example, “One juke, brother you gone.”

We all know that the young, our most at risk citizens, listen not to their parents, but mostly to their peers. So who better to deliver the message that HIV “is  a deadly disease, not just a malady,” than the young man who has already captivated the attention and imagination of the nation’s youth with his Black Cinderella hit song and video. And what better time to have A Serious Thing on the air than the calypso season, when we are at our most promiscuous and inebriated.   Clearly, the message of A Serious Thing needs to be spelt out.

(Verse I) People of this land / Hear my plea, please pay some attention / There’s an enemy / With a mission to destroy our nation / It doh have no head, you see / But its real and deadly / It doh use no knife or gun / But one juk, brother you gone / No medicine on earth / Can reverse your fate / Once you get a prick / In less than no time you’re a statistic (Take this warning …)

(Chorus) HIV – is a serious thing / Once you are slack, is die you dying / HIV – doh respect nobody / Is a deadly disease, not just a malady / Your only remedy / And take that from me /  You must  use a condom / If you want to avoid your doom.

(Verse II) People of this land / HIV causing worldwide havoc / Like a WMD / This thing reducing the human stock / My warning to young and old / Not all that glitters is gold / Life is much too sweet, I say / To recklessly throw away / Doh be stupid and naïve / Be careful to who you give / Prevention’s your sole remedy / So do it right each time sexually (That’s why I say … HIV ...)

(Chorus) HIV – is a serious thing / Once you are slack, is die you dying / HIV – doh respect nobody / Is a deadly disease, not just a malady / Your only remedy / Faithfulness and loyalty /  Or use a condom / If you want to avoid your doom.

(Verse III) People of this land  / Plenty men playing strong and macho / They risking their lives / Sexing away with Trish, Jane, and Vando / I remember sexy Ralph / He didn’t like rubbers at all / AIDS took him to the cemetery / Now they say is cancer that kill he / Doh trust no pretty face / Cause you never know who got AIDS / Love, respect and protect yourself / And you’ll surely save your partner as well (So remember … HIV)  

(Chorus) HIV – is a serious thing / Once you are slack, is die you dying / HIV – doh respect nobody / Is a deadly disease, not just a malady / Your only remedy / Is to abstain totally /  Or use a condom / If you want to avoid your doom.

In an earlier  press release, Brandon’s management team said that the artist can sing just about anything. Well, the release of A Serious Thing shortly after the reggae single, Black Cinderella, may have  proved the point. But there is more in the pipe line, says Dr. Anderson Reynolds.  By month end Brandon is set to release an R&B, make way Rihanna and Chris Brown, and a lovers rock.    

To find out more about Brandon and to listen to his songs and watch his Black Cinderella Video, readers should visit http://www.jakoproductions.com/ & www.myspace.com/hardingdon.